This invention relates to a hopper, and more particularly, to a hopper for holding and discharging flowable material.
Hoppers, buckets and other receptacles or devices are typically used in the construction industry. One type of commonly known hopper has a large open top and tapered or funnel-shaped sidewalls. A sliding or translating hatch or door is located at the bottom of such a hopper. The hopper is filled through the open top typically with sand, gravel, road salt or other granular or particulate material. The filled hopper is then transported to a job site where it will be emptied. The intended mode of emptying such a hopper is to open the hatch or door and allow the granular material to flow out of the hopper by gravity.
However, one common drawback to hoppers of this type is that during transit, the granular contents shift and settle in the hopper so that the contents become packed or jammed therein. As a result, once the hatch or door is manually opened, the material does not flow out of the hopper. Commonly, the worker uses a shovel handle or similar tool inserted into the open top of the hopper or upwardly through the open door to dislodge the packed contents. This is an inconvenient and potentially dangerous practice because the worker may injure himself while attempting to dislodge the material or be unable to escape the flow of the material out of the hopper once it is dislodged.
Alternatively, workers commonly tip the hopper and pour the contents out of the open top. This practice, for which the hopper was not designed, is also inconvenient and potentially dangerous because the mass of the filled hopper may be difficult to safely control and maneuver.
Moreover, even after the filled hopper is transported to the job site and the contents are dislodged from the hopper, hoppers of this type have no mechanism for regulating the flow of the contents out of the hopper. In many instances, only a portion of the contents needs to be discharged from the hopper at a particular location or job site. However, regulating the flow of the contents out of known hoppers of this type is very difficult, if possible at all.
Additionally, the mere transportation of the filled hopper to the job site or other location typically requires substantial equipment such as a construction crane and flat bed truck or the like. In many instances, such equipment is not available or it is impractical for use in transporting the material, particularly, if an individual, home owner or do-it-yourself worker is in need of a bulk load of material.